Colorado Rockies’ Mark Tracy, the youngest son of Rockies manager Jim Tracy, gets a walk in the seventh inning of their spring training baseball game against the Oakland Athletics at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick near Scottsdale, Ariz., Sunday, March 27, 2011. Colorado won the game 5-2.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Even fake games can give real impressions, leading to some cold decisions.

To understand why the Rockies believe they are strong candidates to return to the playoffs for the third time in five years, don’t look at their roster. Look at who’s not on it.

Reliever Matt Daley, who didn’t allow an earned run this spring in six games and had an 0.82 ERA last April, couldn’t crack the bullpen. John Maine won 15 games in 2007, but with his shoulder still building strength, he was no match for Esmil Rogers in the competition for the fifth starter.

“It is hard telling guys who deserve to be here that they won’t be,” manager Jim Tracy said. “But you can’t make everyone feel good.”

With opening day Friday at sold-out Coors Field, the 25-man roster came into focus at Salt River Fields. The only decision remaining is the backup catcher. And Jose Morales made a convincing final argument to be Chris Iannetta’s backup with two doubles and three RBIs against the Cubs on Sunday. He’s hitting .391 this spring.

His offense has allowed him to fend off challenges from emerging prospect Jordan Pacheco and Matt Pagnozzi. Jason Giambi, who clubbed a towering double off the center-field batter’s eye in Mesa, must be added to the 40-man roster at someone’s expense. Giambi was always a lock to the make the team if healthy.

The Rockies reassigned seven players Sunday morning to their minor- league camp. They are Pacheco; Daley; Maine; utilityman Eric Young Jr., for whom the team is receiving trade interest; Triple-A starter Greg Reynolds; and Triple-A relievers Rex Brothers and Eric Stults.

The only surprise was Daley. The Rockies had talked internally about carrying only four starters during the first week of the season because of an off day. But Tracy elected not to skip Rogers the first time through the rotation, assigning him the Dodgers game April 6. That pushes Ubaldo Jimenez’s second outing to Pittsburgh’s home opener the following day.

“It doesn’t matter at all to me,” Jimenez said.

Tracy indicated that he didn’t want to lean on the ace too hard early in the season. That’s exactly what played out a year ago, amplified by his April no-hitter against the Braves.

Daley’s exclusion from the roster testifies to the power arms in the bullpen. Daley throws 88 to 91 mph with terrific control. Of the Rockies’ four right-handed relievers — closer Huston Street, Rafael Betancourt, Matt Belisle and Matt Lindstrom — only Street throws in the low 90s. Lindstrom reaches triple digits on occasion.

“You can control what you can control, and I feel like I did that,” Daley said. “That’s really all I can tell myself at this point. I know once I get my opportunity, I’ll take advantage of it and I’ll be up the rest of the year. But it just stinks to not be in the clubhouse with the guys.”

As impressive as Pacheco was, the Rockies weren’t prepared to risk their catching depth. Morales is out of options and would have been claimed. Plus, his hitting buys Pacheco time to get seasoning in Triple-A. Top catching prospect Wilin Rosario will start the season in Double-A.

“As I told everyone on the first day of the full-squad workout, we are going to need more than 25 guys to get this done,” Tracy said. “We are looking at 38 to 40 who could all factor in at some point.”

Troy is a former Denver Broncos and Colorado Rockies beat writer for The Denver Post. He joined the news organization in 2002 as the Rockies' beat writer and became a Broncos beat writer in 2014 before assuming the lead role ahead of the 2015 season. He left The Post in 2015.

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